Secrets
by El Conejo Morado
Summary: Brother bonding ficlet, woo! Hitoshi and Takao go somewhere they shouldn't...
1. Tsuyu

Secrets 

Summary: Takao and Hitoshi are in a place they shouldn't be and something happens (dun dun DUNNN!). Silly attempt at a brother bonding ficlet.

Pairings: None that I can think of...yet. (Why? You got any ideas?)

Credits: A Very Special Sahnkyuu to Akira of the Twilight, who gave me the idea for this in the first place and allowed me to use the line, and I quote Hitoshi: "Tyson... I'm a woman." XD BWAHAHAHAHAA-- uh oh. Did I just give away my plot? Yeah. And also, I stole certain plots from Ranma 1/2 and Yuugiou, too. Yupyup! I am unoriginal. Oh well.

Genre: Wannabe-Humor/General/Stupidity

Warnings: Hitoshi/Hiro/Ren-centric, painful lack of romance, occasional deaths of the English language, stupid plots, and even stupid-er authors. Also a rabid plot bunny.

Otras Notas: This is mah first ficcy in a loooong time--several years, in fact. So I really need your guy's critisism. For every single mispelled word, incorrect use of grammar--I want to know about it, okay? I feel stupid not knowing things like, oh, say... BASIC ENGLISH. Yeah. You know the drill--if it's spelled wrong, used wrong, awkward, seems wrong...just..tell me? Alright? Please? I do know that I am making mistakes. So correct me. ...Ne...?

Secrets

Chapter One - Tsuyu

_Hitoshi _

It all started one late afternoon during a particularly stubborn rain storm.

I had been visiting my family in Japan, of course, and though I delighted in being near Takao once he had acquired some level of maturity, there were times when he--simply put--became too much. And that one oh-so-fateful afternoon he did just that. It's where  
everything began. It's all because of THEM.

_Flashback -_

_2 July 4:43 PM_

The streets of Tokyo, Japan were almost completely void of life. The heavens were, and had been, opening themselves unto the city. The rain had been falling since late May, stopping only during rare intervals in which parks and streets would once more be packed. It was a cold, harsh rain, accompanied by a heavy wind and, occasionally, hail.

Businesses suffered greatly during these months. The only places that seemed to prosper were the bathhouses and hot springs, teeming with laughter and bodies thankful to be out of the storms. There was, in fact, a new, larger sento almost finished in its building. The media gleefully referred to it as "Niaso," after the famous Aso onsen. They alluded the waters at Niaso to magical springs, and rumored them to have special healing power. Unfortunately, the rainy season had started up a bit earlier than expected, and with much more force;construction had ceased for the time being.

It was, truly, a dreary afternoon. And Hitoshi had not been pleased at having to brave it.

He cursed openly into the wind as his umbrella disappeared into the mist, carried by forces much more powerful than he. The ninja referred to himself as Shippu, so predictably, he loved storms and all of the power behind them. However, it was not the storm, or the umbrella, or even his having to leave his warm, safe apartment on foot that irritated him; it was the simple knowledge of _why _he was there.

Soaked through, Hitoshi paused beneath the cover of a bus stop and ran a cold hand through his hair, pushing it from his eyes. He remembered the call he had received from his father not ten minutes ago. The man had sounded desperate as he asked his eldest son a favor with the background noise of his grandfather, Takao, and Daichi yelling. And when Hitoshi had gone along with his initial intuition and turned the man down, his father had proceeded to shamelessly burst into tears and beg.

Strict as he considered himself to be, Hitoshi had found it difficult to turn down his crying old man. So, heaving meaningless sighs every other step, the metal tiger had strapped on some boots and a raincoat, grabbed an umbrella and house keys, and left.

Bitterly, Hitoshi remembered his car, which would not start. So he walked.

And what a terrible walk it had been. But currently he was only a few blocks from the Kinomiya household. So, exhaling deeply, Hitoshi adjusted his coat and darted out into the rain again.

He arrived, more or less, in one great, soaking mess; and somewhat grouchy, he didn't waste time in knocking, but instead threw the door open and marched right in, very nearly slamming it behind him. And _then _he stalked into the house without taking off his shoes or coat--an insult the eldest Kinomiyas had better not soon forget (ever the proper men they were.)

Hitoshi moved easily into the dining room/kitchen, and glanced around. Takao was watching static on the TV with headphones tightly blaring some sort of music into his ears, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, his back to Hitoshi. An assortment of beyblade parts were scattered before him on the table; but otherwise, the house seemed to be empty. Hitoshi sauntered over to where the dragon was, taking off his coat and throwing it carelessly over a counter as he did so.

Takao, for his part, did not notice his brother's presence until a finger cold as death left a wet trail of ice swiftly up his spine and the left side of his headphones disappeared from his ear, replaced by an unknown, breathy voice uttering, "Where is everyone?"

Understandably, the teenager screeched and jumped quickly to his feet, spinning around as he did so--and tripping backwards onto the table. Takao flushed upon sight of his brother.

"Whe--what was that for?" He questioned angrily. Hitoshi smirked, but wiping stray hairs from his face, decided to answer in a conversational tone of voice.

"Our respective elders. Where are they?"

"Um," Takao said, slowly easing himself back to the floor, "Tousan and Jichan left a moment ago. I think me and Daichi finally got to them. And I don't know where Daichi is. He just left." Once situated in a slightly less embarrassing pose on the floor, Takao stood fully and finished, "Everybody will probably be back by dinner, though, and if not, tomorrow afternoon. They always are. Why are you here? You're all wet. And your shoes are still on..."

"And _you _are naked." Hitoshi cut in. "I came because the old man asked me to do a quick baby-sitting job."

Takao seemed confused, and turned to inspect his beyblade accessories, which had scattered and broken from his fall on them a moment before. "I don't know about that," he said, morosely holding up a bent attack ring. "There isn't anybody here TO baby-sit. I dunno why he'd call you."

Hitoshi snorted and, picking up his coat, walked back to the front door to inspect the mess he had trailed in. "I'm thinking," he called over his shoulder as he wrung out his jacket, "that he wanted me to come watch YOU."

"That's ridiculus," Takao grumbled to himself, and began gathering his blade parts to put them away. He still had goosebumps and an odd feeling of squimishness in his stomach from Hitoshi's rather dramatic entrance; it wasn't something he wanted to advertise.

"Anyway, they left in a hurry, and I don't think they'll be gone very long!" That said, the teen darted down the hall and through the living room to his bedroom. He started to close his door, but Hitoshi appeared out of nowhere and shouldered it back open again.

"_What_?" Takao asked, annoyed.

"I don't plan on staying here," Hitoshi responded easily, half wedged between the door and wall, "and as much as I'm sure I might like to, I'm not leaving you alone, either."

Truthfully, Hitoshi simply did not want to trudge back to his apartment and have to live with the knowledge of all that time wasted. Perhaps some small part of him had hoped Takao and Daichi were in their most destructive moods; then it'd be perfectly legal to take a frustration or two out on them. He was certain that they needed the training--and what better way to attain satisfaction via (a somewhat misguided) revenge than through forcing a couple of kids to train in tsuyu weather?

Alas, Daichi missing and Takao mellow. What was the world coming to?

"Newsflash, O Loving Big Brother," Takao announced sarcastically--(still wounded from Hitoshi's joining BEGA during the whole Balkov fiasco several months ago)--and left Hitoshi where he was to place his blade parts in their respective cases. "I don't plan on leaving today."

"Afraid of a little rain?" The ninja taunted smoothly, leaning against the door frame. He left the door where it was, not really interested in what Takao was doing. "Well, Newsflash, O Loving Baby Brother. You aren't staying."

Hitoshi could already tell it was going to be a long night. He had watched Takao on his own before, when they were young children, of course; but now Takao was old enough to watch himself. That made a difference.

"Get dressed," the eldest ordered firmly. "We're leaving."


	2. Ajisai

A/N: Wow! Reviews! I'm honored! Thanks you guys! I love you! Mwa!

Secrets

Chapter Two - Ajisai

_Takao_

You know, I never did like June. Or July. And that year, I certainly didn't like May either. Because, simply put, I don't like rain.I mean, rain in Hawai'i might be nice. Or rain that only sprinkles for just a tiny bit. Or even rain on a sunny day with a warm wind...

But no. The Japanese rainy season is cold and dreary and wet. The only "bright side" to tsuyu is the lowered entrance fees to the bath houses and local hot springs. And they're always packed, or so said my father and grandfather, who liked to spend their rainy days (and a few suspicious nights) at massage parlours.

Speaking of which, that's where they went THAT night. To a massage place, I mean. I think. I assumed. And then Daichi ran off complaining about how wet Tokyo was. Leaving me alone. In my dark house. With an angry storm raging outside.

I mean, I was a little freaked out, you know? That was when Hitoshi-niichan came. Out of nowhere. Behind me. He dragged me out into the rain! It's all because of him. It's all _his _fault.

_Flashback -_

_2 July 4:58 PM _

Endless buckets of icy water continued to upend themselves relentlessly over the whole of Japan.

Two figures, their forms fuzzy and dark in the mist of rain, made their way slowly through the downpour across a deserted street.

Hitoshi had no idea where he was going. It certainly wasn't home, his or Takao's, nor was it work, over forty-five minutes away. The beystadium still hadn't been rebuilt, the closest park's river had flooded, and almost all the restaurants and shops were packed with lingering bodies who did not want to brave the weather.

There was an impending sense of Time Wasted beginning to creep over Hitoshi's head, and he disliked the thought. Wasn't there something constructive he had to do? Errands? Friends to visit? People toannoy? Laundry--ANYTHING?

He paused at the door to a closed flower shop and waited for Takao to wearily drag his already soaked through form up next to him. Said teenager collapsed on the front step, heedless of the large puddle ofwater he'd just placed his bottom in.

"Are we there yet?" he asked tiredly, all the fight having been "walked" out of him several minutes before.

"No." Hitoshi snapped, squinting through the haze.

"Where are we going, anyway?"

Would the youngest Kinomiya never shut up? Hitoshi refused to answer.

Alas, Takao's intellegence had been underestimated.

"You don't even _know _where we're going, do you!" he cried angrily. Taking the ninja's silence as an affirmative, Takao threw himself to his back, effectively covering his entire backside in muddy water.

"Niichan! Geeze! What did you drag me out here for? Ugh! This was such a waste of time."

Those were the key words.

"We're going to Niaso." Hitoshi said abruptly, and then took a moment to first, try and remember what Niaso was, and second, mentally curse himself out for spouting such a moronic suggestion.

Takao sat up. "Isn't that the new bath house? With imported waters from La La Land?" He tipped is head slightly, "I didn't know it was open."

Hitoshi winced. Last he had checked, it wasn't.

"Well, just to look around, anyway," he muttered, still attempting to formulate a reason as to why these events were beginning to take place.

Takao's eyes widened briefly before he jumped to his feet rather excitedly. "Great idea! That sounds fun--are we going to see if everything is true?"

"What?"

"You don't know?"

"Know what?" Hitoshi could already see an exceptionally repetitive conversation looming before them.

"A group of people from my school went there after the construction workers left for the season," Takao began cheerfully, "They said that the place is already ready, water there and warm and everything. But then one girl fell into the water and came out screaming all freaked and stuff--she babbled about how the water was actually blood or something all through chemistry! It was great! Stupid, for sure, but hey--it got me out of chemistry homework." He paused for a moment. "Actually, I hadn't thought about it since, but now I do, I want to see if they were telling the truth..."

Hitoshi stared. Takao was basing a potentially illegal act upon the word of a handful of teenage kids?

"No," our metal tiger announced cautiously, "no, on second thought--"

"Aw, c'mon, dude!" Takao broke in playfully. "You aren't chickening out, are you? Now that I'm all wet and seven thousand blocks from home, I think for sure I'm going! And you're supposed to be baby-sitting me, right?"

Hitoshi's bemused expression failed to convince Takao otherwise.

Sensing victory, the dragon pressed on.

"Besides, you need to repay me for joining BEGA and leaving without saying goodbye and stuff. Revenge would be my only other option, and surely you don't wish me to seek revenge upon you?"

Hitoshi drew his eyebrows into a further look of Stop-BS-ing-me-and-be-serious, drawing his lips into a thin line before answering.

"You're acting like a fool. It's illegal to trespass on Government property." he uttered, ignoring the BEGA remark.

"S'not government's, it's people's. The Niaso isn't for _just _government people, and it's ready for customers, isn't it? That chick said so."

"And you believed her."

"Well, no...not really, but c'mon, if I'm gonna waste my time, I'm gonna waste it on cool things that involve blood and magical water. Let's go!"

Hitoshi heaved a sigh, and tipped his head to his left shoulder before rotating his face in the same direction to stare out across the street. The weather appeared to be improving--or was that the imagination of a hopeful adult?

"You know you want to go, Niichan, admit it!" Takao encouraged, "I don't know where it is from here."

_Hah! Figures_, Hitoshi thought, before giving in and pushing a few strands of wet hair behind his ears. _I'm going to regret this.._

"It's this way," he sighed, and began leading his brother toward the construction site of Niaso.


	3. Niaso

A/N: AAAAAAND it's chapter three! Thanks for reviewing, Bey-fans! I love you guys so much! You're so nice!

... Hitoshi and Takao really are painfully out of character... too sarcastic... ugh. How did I manage THAT? Stupid first-fic-aitus. Okay, serious character-changing going on here. I need to rewrite this, and it's only at chapter three! Yuck. Later. I wanna finish it first...

...or, wait...maybe I could just give the OOC warning and be lazy... hmm...

Disclaimer: Did I forget this? Too lazy to check. I don't own Beyblade and no profit is being made from this fanfiction.

Secrets

Chapter Three - Niaso

_Hitoshi_

I try to avoid thinking about how it began and all. You know. Who'd want to remember this sort of thing, anyway? So where was I?

Oh, yes. Takao and I walked--very cold and wet by then, did I mention?--to Niaso. When we got there, I was, maybe, a little surprised; he'd told the truth before. Apart from the outside entrance garden not being finished, and the place being a mess with contruction tools and such, Niaso was more than ready for customers...

Well, that's not really the strange part. There was nobody present, and no lights were on, but the doors were unlocked. Then things started going downhill. That is, faster downhill than before...

_Flashback -_

_2 July 5:17 PM_

Hitoshi and Takao darted out from the rain, under the opening gate for Niaso. Shivering, Takao immediately went toward the doors and pounded on them.

"I think it's empty," Hitoshi muttered, wringing water out of his hair.

"Yeah, but--"

"This wasn't a very good idea."

"Niichan, somebody is probably here... otherwise, the doors wouldn't be unlocked." Takao interrupted, and pushed one of the large ornamental doubledoors open slightly.

"Takao! Don't!"

Hitoshi's hissed warning was, of course, ignored; Takao waltzed right in. After a moment he poked his head back out. "Are you coming?" he asked. "It's awesomely dry and warm in here. I think I found the main room, too! Let's go see if we can con a bath out of 'em early!" and he off and disappeared again. Heaving a sigh, Hitoshi stepped inside Niaso as well.

The first room he encountered was larger than usual. There was a desk for selling tickets directly ahead--more than ten metres--and a place to the left that appeared to sell toiletries. To the right were two doors, one marked clearly in red with 'RESTRICTED - STAFF ONLY.'

It was _that_ door where Takao appeared once more.

"In here," he said brightly. "I've been calling around, but nobody has answered..."

"Takao, that's restricted."

"What?" The dragon huffed, "since when do YOU read signs? If memory serves correct--"

"Look, nevermind," Hitoshi cut in abruptly. "We shouldn't be here. Let's go."

"Aww! You ARE scared! Don't worry bwig bwuver, I'm here to protect you." Laughing, Takao turned and disappeared through RESTRICTED. Hitoshi's eyes twitched, and he held his ground for a few seconds before breaking down and following his brother through the door.

Immediately he was in a short hallway with a ceiling sloping upward rapidly, most likely to form a dome for the baths. Along the hallways were numerous doors, most of them closets, except for one marked SECURITY and another as BATHS. Deciding to follow his first instinct, Hitoshi opened the latter.

The first thing he noted was the lack of light. If it weren't for the large dome-shaped skylight on the ceiling, the room would have been pitch black; Hitoshi stepped into a wave of heat, blinking in an attempt to get used to the lighting. The door behind him slammed with a muffled echo that was drowned out by the distant grumble of thunder.

The baths themselves were huge, Hitoshi noted when his eyes adjusted more. The door led onto a raised dais, several feet above the actual baths--baths that looked more like artificial hotsprings. Despite the dim lighting of the overhead skylight, Hitoshi could see two large pools of dark, steaming water; one obviously for women and the other for men. A wall of rocks seperated the two, and Hitoshi stood on a platform facing that wall, slightly higher.

"Niichan?" Takao's voice echoed eerily against the walls and water.  
"Where'd you go?"

"Up here," Hitoshi said, stepping forward until he could peer over the edge of the dais. Takao was below him on the womens' side, either having ignored or dismissed the clearly marked signs of which gender could go where. A fork of lightning shot through the air, lighting the room for a second and throwing violently dark shadows across the dragon's features.

"Oh, there you are! How'd you get up there?"

"How did you get down there?"

"I asked first!"

"I'm your elder!"

"You're not old!"

... Hitoshi, flattered, boosted his ego a bit before replying.

"I went through a door marked BATHS. I want to know what door YOU went through?"

"Just a sec," Takao disappeared completely from view. Hitoshi listened to the silence pressing in around him. There wasn't something quite right--

"RAWR!"

&

Takao, seeing his brother's unmoving form, crept up behind him and, with a hefty shove, screamed 'rawr!' at the top of his lungs; he choked on his laughter when he actually succeeded in not only startling the ninja, but dislodging him all the way down into the water of the womens' side, sending up steaming water droplets with the obligatory splash.

Hitoshi hadn't expected it; he'd heard Takao right at the last second, but before he had the chance to identify a reason as to what the youngest was doing, he was falling through the silence and gasped as the water connected with his side, surrounding him, smothering, until he managed to throw his head back above the water, gasping and choking on the bile in his throat.

Takao was laughing. "Geeze," he called down, "lighten up a little, would ya? I thought you were gonna drown for a second!"

Hitoshi spun, kicking in an attempt to find some footing; there was none. _Just how deep--?_ he wondered, looking down, and sucked in a breath. _Blood...!_

The steaming liquid he had been pushed into was blood--hot, roiling blood, and suddenly he could smell it, feel it, taste it, grasping his body and streaming down his face, constricting his throat--

"Niichan? Hey, you gonna sit in there forever?"

Hitoshi blinked--and the vision vanished. "What," he whispered, "..the hell?" His boots, heavy with water--not blood--touched the bottom of the pool, and he stood up. The water only reached the top of his thighs. There was nothing extraordinary about it. It was just a hot spring...

"Hey! ...Niichan? Are you alright?"

Takao, splashing with his shoes and pants still on, appeared at Hitoshi's side, apparently concerned. Hitoshi allowed him a moment to get his bearings before spinning and shoving the boy in the water.

"Brat," he said, "hasn't the old man taught you ANYTHING? You _do not_ push other people around, especially if they're bigger than you!" He stomped/splashed back to dry ground, eyes twitching.

Takao followed soon after, laughing again. He laughed all the way out of Niaso, laughed as the storm--now wetter than ever--soaked all the warmth from the hot springs from his skin, and was still snickering when Hitoshi slammed the front door in his and his father's faces, Daichi and Jichan screaming in the kitchen.

Hitoshi ignored him the entire way. And, instead of grumbling as he began trudging to his own home, he furrowed his brow in thought.

He had been so sure... so sure that it had been blood...


End file.
